1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the formulation, in a physiologically acceptable medium, of cosmetic/pharmaceutical compositions comprising an effective amount of at least one peptide containing the Lysine-Proline-Valine tripeptide, with the exception of any peptide containing the Lysine-Proline-Valine sequence immediately preceded by an Histidine residue, or of any functional biological equivalent thereof, for promoting or stimulating the growth and/or limiting the loss of body and/or head hair.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In humans, hair growth and its renewal are principally determined by the activity of the hair follicles. Their activity is cyclical and comprises essentially three phases, namely, the anagenic phase, the catagenic phase and the telogenic phase.
The active anagenic phase, or growth phase, which lasts several years and during which the hair grows longer, is followed by a very short and transitory catagentic phase, which lasts a few weeks, and then by a quiescent phase, known as the telogenic phase, which lasts a few months.
At the end of the quiescent period, the hair falls out and another cycle recommences. The head of hair is thus constantly renewed and, of the approximately 150,000 hairs which a head of hair contains, at each instant, approximately 10% of them are at rest and will therefore be replaced in a few months.
In a significant number of cases, early hair loss occurs in subjects who are genetically predisposed thereto and it affects men in particular. It is more particularly androgenetic or androgenic alopecia or, alternatively, androgeno-genetic alopecia.
This alopecia is essentially due to a disturbance in hair renewal which results, at first, in an acceleration in the frequency of the cycles at the expense of the quality of the hair and then of its amount. A progressive thinning of the head of hair takes place by regression of the so-called "terminal" hairs to the downy stage. Regions are preferentially affected, in particular in men the region between the temple and the forehead and, in women, a diffuse alopecia of the vertex is observed.
For many years in the cosmetic or pharmaceutical industry, active agents have been sought for suppressing or reducing the effect of alopecia and, in particular, for inducing or stimulating hair growth or decreasing hair loss.
From this perspective, a large number of highly varied active compounds have already been developed, such as, for example, 2,4-diamino-6-piperidinopyrimidine 3-oxide or "Minoxidil" described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,812 or, alternatively, its many derivatives, such as those described, for example, in EP-353,123, EP-356,271, EP-408,442, EP-522,964, EP-420,707, EP-459,890 and EP-519,819.
Also exemplary are 6-amino-1,2-dihydro-1-hydroxy-2-imino-4-piperidinopyrimidine and derivatives thereof, which are more particularly described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,139,619.
It generally remains that it would be advantageous and useful to develop active compounds other than those already known which are potentially more active and/or less toxic, for example compounds which act either on the hair follicle, by promoting its growth, or on the hair cycle, by extending, for example, the anagenic phase, which would have the effect of delaying the change to the quiescent phases and thus of reducing the frequency of the cycles.